A/N: An anonymous reviewer pointed out to me that they didn't use protection in the last chapter. I honestly planned on addressing that in this chapter, or somehow edit it into an earlier one, but it just didn't work out the way I wanted it to. Since they already had sex in chapter 13, it would be kind of pointless and redundant if they talked about it just now. So for the sake of plot and storyline, please assume that they, at some point in the past, before having sex, talked about the issue and that Beckett is on the pill. There won't be any Castle babies in this story, okay? They're most definitely not ready for that yet!
Oh, now that we're kind of on that topic – once this is done, would you like to see a sequel or do you want me to try something new? Tell me via review? ;)
Now, I'm going to stop with the rambling. This chapter is shorter than I wanted it to be, but it will have to work for now. (My heat broke so it's almost freezing in my bedroom. My fingers are too cold to keep typing…)
Please enjoy your prescribed daily treatment of fluff! :D
When Kate woke up, she found herself snuggled close to his chest, his velvety satin sheets carelessly sprawled across their naked bodies. Rick was already awake, his eyes wandering restlessly around the room. At the sight of his bright blue eyes so close to hers, she felt a grin spread across her face. She sighed in delight at the simple pleasure of waking up beside him. This was so much better than waking up alone.
Hearing her sigh and feeling her breath brush across his chest, he looked down at her, slightly afraid of the nature of the sigh. He prayed to anyone that listened that she wouldn't run away from this, or talk last night into being something as easy as a booty call.
"Buongiorno" she said and snuggled closer, lightly kissing his chest. He broke into a bright grin, realizing that, for now, she wasn't going anywhere. "That means 'Good morning', right?" he asked and she looked up and nodded, her hair tickling his chest.
"You should teach me" he proposed and she chuckled, the sound ringing almost heavenly in his ears.
"Do you really want to go through that?" she asked and laid her head back down. Although she would never admit it to his face, he made the nicest kind of pillow.
"Just some words" he begged and sweetly kissed the top of her head, aimlessly trailing his fingers up and down her bare sides.
There it was again: that flutter, that feeling inside her every cell, that tingling notion of…love. Oh, god. She really loved him. She tried to blink the thought away. She didn't want to analyze this right now, was sure that her head was messing with her because she was here in his arms and their real life seemed so far away.
She thought about his request for a moment. "Colazione" she said at last.
"Carl-a-sione?"
"Co-la-zi-O-ne" she repeated slowly, trying hard to suppress the smile that was tugging at her lips.
"Cola-see-OHH-ne" he tried again and she vividly nodded her head, giving in and grinning from ear to ear. Then she leaned up and kissed him quickly, as if to reward him for his cute efforts to get the word right.
"What does it mean?" he asked.
"Breakfast" she responded and he laughed, the vibrations thrillingly racing down her spine.
He briefly tightened his arms around her. "Are you hungry?"
Instead of an answer, her stomach let out a low growl in response.
"Guess that's a yes" he chuckled. "Do you want pancakes?"
She arched her neck until their lips were almost touching, but not quite. "Do you treat all your conquests to pancakes in the morning, Mr. Castle?" she asked coyly, her breath teasing his lips. His look went from amused and lusty to serious in a split second.
"Only you" he stated honestly and she had no choice but to believe him. "And you're not a conquest" he added and her insides jittered and fluttered as if filled with butterflies. He closed the distance between their lips and she closed her eyes. She moved further up his body, so that their position was more comfortable and gently touched her hand to his cheek. She broke the simple kiss before she could get lost in him and he was about to say something when her stomach growled again. They both grinned stupidly at each other.
"You would have to get out of bed to make pancakes, right?" she asked rhetorically and he kissed her again, another sweet, innocent kiss that left her molten inside.
"You could call in sick and I could order in. Then we could stay in bed all day" he proposed in a seductive voice and wriggled his eyebrows at her. She smiled and kissed him again, lingering a little longer than she'd first intended. She moaned when his hands – now very intentionally – travelled up her sides and her mouth involuntarily opened to the touch of his tongue. Her hand automatically moved from his cheek into his hair and tugged him closer. She bit down on his lower lip and then released him with a last flick of her tongue. His eyes were glazed over and his breathing was ragged.
"You know we can't do that" she murmured and venturously dragged her nails across the back of his neck. "We have to close this case first. The faster we get done with that, the earlier we can do this again" she promised huskily and ground her naked body against his.
He drew in a sharp breath. "You're a wicked woman" he groaned before he captured her lips in a searing, passionate kiss. When his lips and teeth made their way down to her soft neck she arched into him and whimpered. Just then a terrible thought dawned on her and she quickly pulled away.
"Please tell me Alexis and Martha didn't come home last night or I think I might jump out the window!" she exclaimed fearfully, her eyes opened in wide shock.
"Oh please don't jump. Wouldn't want to ruin such a perfectly beautiful morning" he answered jokingly and she lightly slapped his chest.
"Where are they?" she asked, still frightened and not entirely convinced that his smile translated into the information she wanted to hear.
"Alexis at a sleepover, Martha in L.A." he assured her with a smile at last and she released a tense breath.
Her head fell back to his chest and her body relaxed into his embrace. She really didn't feel like getting up yet. The evidence of Rick's arousal was pressed against her lower body, so she was pretty certain that he shared her attitude.
A quick glance at the bedside clock assured her that it was only 6:23 and they weren't running late. Her internal alarm system seemed to work even when she wasn't sleeping in her own bed.
She was just trying to convince herself to get up when Rick gently rolled them around, so that she wasn't lying on top of him anymore. He surprised her again when he didn't make any advances, like she'd expected him to, but instead dropped a kiss onto her forehead and moved to get up.
"You stay in bed and rest for a little while longer and I'll make breakfast, okay?" he said and she was too stunned to form a coherent reply. He stood up, naked as he was, and strolled to the door, whistling. By the time her brain had come up with any objections, he was long gone.
A/N: I've been really bad with handing out promised cookies to you. I really plan on answering as many reviews as possible, but with the amount of them I get right now, I've had a hard time following up. That's not a bad thing at all, you know! You've been so completely amazing with your reviews and support for this story, I feel really honored and humbled and overwhelmed! :)
This story now has more than 100.000 hits and more than 200 alerts! I'm incredibly happy about that and it really inspires me and keeps me working really hard.
A huge, heartfelt THANK YOU! To all of you out there, everyone who reads this story, or added it to their favorites or alerts or left a review! You are all fantastically amazing with a side of awesomesauce! Big hugs to all of you!
And I will, eventually, reply to your reviews. I promise!
But now I need to sleep. ;)
